INDIO – Trace Adkins won over the mane stage at the Stagecoach country music festival on Friday night with his deep voice and hit songs while actor Jeff Bridges used his charisma and musicianship to do the same at the Palomino Stage.

Adkins used his deep baritone to crank out hits like 2008’s “You’re Gonna Miss This” to loud singalongs while Bridges performed mostly covers like Tom Waits’ “Never Let Go” to consistent cheers.

On the mane stage Friday night, Adkins also performed 1996’s “Every Light In The House,” 2010’s “This Ain’t No Love Song” and described deceased legend George Jones, who died Friday, as “my friend.” “How you doing? It’s good to be back at Stagecoach,” Adkins said early in his set to noisy cheers and yells.

Inside the Palomino Stage, Bridges started off with a hat and sunglasses but later took them off to loud cheers. Before he performed Michael McDonald’s “She Lay Her Whip Down” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Lookin’ Out My Back Door.”

“A little Creedence from The Dude,” Bridges said to loud applause before the 1970 “Lookin’ Out My Back Door.”

Both acts sounded sonically great, but Bridges appeared to confuse his audience at times when they weren’t sure to cheer or laugh early on and his voice was not always great but he clearly enjoyed his set.

INDIO – Country music superstars Toby Keith and Hank Williams Jr. each entertained their respective audiences Friday night at the Stagecoach country music festival with a mix of hits and covers of artists like deceased legend George Jones or Hank Williams Sr..

Main headliner Keith performed Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care” and “Daddy Come Home” while Williams Jr. performed “Your Cheating Heart” by his father.

As headliner, Keith said of Jones, who passed away Friday at age 81: “Godspeed George Jones. God bless George Jones. I’m going to try to do a couple of George Jones songs to show what real country music sounds like.” Earlier in the show, Keith added that Jones “was approachable, a great singer and he is the face of country music.”

Williams Jr., besides covering his father, also covered “Walk This Way” and he rapped the song like the 1986 Run-DMC version as well as Jerry Reed’s “East Bound and Down” from the 1977 film “Smokey and the Bandit” and “I Walk The Line” by Johnny Cash.

The artists played their own hits as well as Keith tore through “Red Solo Cup,” “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “Beer for My Horses” and his set ender with Trace Adkins “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” The song is Keith’s but Adkins, who performed on the same stage earlier in the night, joined him.

Williams Jr. performed songs like “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” and “Keep The Change” with the lyrics “I’ll keep my freedom / I’ll keep my guns” drawing a loud cheer. He also performed 1980’s “Woman I’ve Never Had” with lines including the Friday fan favorite of “I like to ride my horse and shoot my gun.”

Both mane stage sets sounded great musically while Keith’s used flames and an extensive video on stage before his performance about Clancy’s Tavern. Williams Jr.’s stage set-up was basic but the singer would change hats every couple of songs and played the fiddle to loud applause.

Stagecoach 2013: Maggie Rose plays catchy set in sun

INDIO – Newcomer Maggie Rose played a sparkling set in the more than 90 degree sun Friday on the mane stage at the Stagecoach country music festival while Connie Smith entertained the faithful in the Palomino Stage.

Potomac, Maryland’s Rose played selections from her debut album “Cut to Impress,” which was released in March. Despite being a new artist, fans near me loudly sang lyrics to most every song including the singles “Better” and “I Ain’t Your Mama.”

Smith’s set included hits like 1967’s “Cincinnati, Ohio” and 1968’s “Run Away Little Tears” as well as 2011’s “What’s a Heart Like You Doing in a Fool Like Me.”

On the mane stage when Rose performed, her sound was well engineered as every instrument could be heard loud and clear despite the heat. Frequently Rose would also discuss her songs before performing them.

“We can be your wife, we can be your girlfriend but we ain’t your momma,” Rose says before performing her single to loud yells and cheers.

Inside the Palomino Stage, the 71-year-old Grammy Award winning Smith was also assisted by a well engineered set that showcased her amazing voice. At one point, she asked the audience if they knew who she was.

“Yes!” the crowd yelled back at her. She then asked what song they wanted to hear and the audience asked for her hit “Cincinnati, Ohio.”

“I don’t know that one,” Smith said with a laugh before performing the song.

Stagecoach 2013: Commander Cody pilots great set at festival

Commander Cody plays the Stagecoach country music festival on Friday. (Will Lester/staff photographer)

INDIO – Commander Cody, with his keyboard and backing band, performed a set of hits that brought to life the crowd inside the Palomino Stage at the Stagecoach country music festival.Cody, who’s group is also known as Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, initially drew a small crowd to the Palomino Stage but by the end of his set it was more than half full with many in the audience toe-tapping or head nodding to the mix of country swing, rockabilly and blues.

Formed in 1967, the band on Friday afternoon in the more than 90 degree sun performed songs such as 1972’s “Hot Rod Lincoln,” 1973’s “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) and 1975’s “Don’t Let Go.”

When the set wrapped up, Cody walked away from his keyboard to massive cheers with a slight limp before he grabbed a bottle of water and a cane.

The Palomino stage, during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend, was the massive Sahara Tent.

For the Stagecoach festival, the tent was basically hollowed out with its elaborate LCD lighting system removed. In its place was lots of hay bales and a simple stage set up where people could bring their lawn chairs, and in one case, a dog, and watch the music.

Coachella 2013: Father John Misty uses charisma and songs to win over Gobi Tent

INDIO – Father John Misty used a combination of humor, charisma and music to earn what he called a “victory, victory in the desert” at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday.Father John Misty, real name Josh Tillman, told the audience during his set that “I feel like playing this thing now” before he picked up an acoustic guitar. “This thing is called a laptop.”

That’s Father John Misty in a nutshell and he kept the mood light and energetic with jokes and moves like picking up the mic stand, spinning around or kneeling to the music and most importantly infectious music.

Misty’s band featured a lot of acoustic guitar mixed with experimental rock and folk that kept the set in constant motion during songs like “Funtimes in Babylon,” “Misty’s Nightmares 1 & 2,” “Well, You Can Do It Without Me” and more.

INDIO -The Lumineers turned their early Sunday afternoon performance on the Coachella main stage into a singalong.The folk-rock band from Denver, Colorado were making their first appearance at the festival. But as much as front man Wesley Schultz tried to turn it into a hootenanny, he was unsuccessful.

It doesn’t mean the crowd wasn’t into the set, because they were – dancing along throughout the set. At least Schultz tried even if they weren’t successful.

After opening their set with “Submarines” from their self-titled debut album, Schutlz asked the audience to sing the chorus “I ain’t nobody’s problem but my own” from the song with the same name.

After trying to coax them, he just continued singing.

It was a smart, and bold move by The Lumineers to get “Ho Hey” early in their set. The song helped catapult the band’s success and earned them two Grammys nominations for best new artist and best Americana album.

At the same time they risked the chance of people walking away from the set early on – it happened to Goyte last year after he played “Somebody That I Use to Know.”

The audience began to sing along from the start but then would trail off. With phones and cameras up in the air many tried to capture the moment.

They also performed a brand new, untitled song which featured Neyla Pekarek on vocals, which the crowd loved, and a piano solo.

He later asked the crowd to sing along to “Stubborn Love,” even practicing the chorus with them first.

One of the band member stood on top of the piano, stomping and clapping to start off “Big Parade.”

Schultz told the crowd “I think this is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played,” and goes back into the song.

To close out their set with “Flapper Girl” and before walking off the the stage they give each other hugs.

INDIO – The Wu-Tang Clan’s performance celebrating the 20-year anniversary of their album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” drew one of the largest crowds to the Outdoor Theatre on Sunday evening.The Staten Island hip-hop group headlined the stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with thousands of people in attendance.

“If you feel the Wu-Tang spirit in your heart, put your W’s up,” said The Rza to the audience who complied.

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was released in November 1993 and has sold more than one million copies.

Their first song was “Protect Ya Neck,” which was also appropriately enough the debut single of the group back in 1992.

Also performed Sunday night were the other singles from the 36 chambers album “Method Man,” “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Can It Be All So Simple.”

While group member Ol’ Dirty Bastard died in November 2004, the other group members filled in for him on Sunday.

Besides 36 chambers songs, group members also performed “Reunited” from Wu-Tang Forever and Method Man performed “Bring The Pain” while The Genius performed “4th Chamber.”

Coachella 2013: Red Hot Chili Peppers play all the hits at the festival

INDIO – The Red Hot Chili Peppers played a greatest hit set of sorts for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival audience Sunday night.The group started with “Monarchy of Roses” from their latest 2011 album “I’m With You” before heading to the familar strains of their hit “Dani California” from the 2006 album “Stadium Arcadium.”

There was no surprises from the group as they mostly stuck with familar hits like 2000’s “Californication,” 2002’s “By The Way,” 2006’s “Snow (Hey Oh)” and the 1990’s hits later in the set.

“Under the Bridge” from the 1991 album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” inspired a massive Coachella singalong as did set ender “Give It Away,” from the same album.

The oldest hit they performed was 1989’s “Higher Ground,” a cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 hit.

While fans appeared happy with the set, I wished they would have pushed themselves to go a little farther back into albums like “Freaky Styley,” “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” and more from “Mother’s Milk” besides “Higher Ground.”

INDIO – Synthpop singer/songwriter duo La Roux sounded flawless from the moment they took the stage on the Mojave tent of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.In a set that relied heavily on their breakout 2009 self-titled album “La Roux,” the band made their return to the festival since 2010.

It’s sort of a do-over for the duo Elly Jackson and Benjamin Langmaid who had to cancel their appearance at last year’s fest because the they were working on finishing up their record, which is set to be released later this year, and could not find the time to play the fest.

Last year was the first time the three-day festival was expanded to two consecutive weekends.

La Roux kicked off their set with “In for the Kill” and going into some dance tunes like “Fascination,” “Tigerlily.” The duo slowed things down for a stripped down version of “Color My Eyes.”

During the set Jackson made her way from one side of the stage to the other as her light coat flapped open in the wind.

The duo were on the stage as heavy winds began to pick up. There were no issues other than the large display screens swayed a bit. The crowd seemed to not be faze by the winds or the dipping temperatures as they danced and sung along.

Coachella 2013: Tame Impala plays large crowd at Outdoor Theatre that includes Tyler, the Creator

INDIO – Perth, Western Australia’s Tame Impala performed music from their albums “Innerspeaker” and “Lonerism” that drew a large group of fans to the Outdoor Theatre Sunday night that included hip-hop artist Tyler, the Creator.The Odd Future member was located off stage to the left of Tame Impala but he could be seen singing along to songs like “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” off Tame Impala’s critically acclaimed “Lonerism” album released in 2012.

Tame Impala had the crowd in the palm of their hands with songs like “Elephant” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” from “Lonerism” that created a dance party Sunday evening.

The group started off with “Solitude Is Bliss” from their debut album “Innerspeaker” that immediately won the crowd over despite the group performing about 10 minutes late on Sunday.

Besides their latest albums, the group also played “Half Full Glass of Wine” from their 2008 “Tame Impala EP.”